Lately, I've been...

First:  Making strawberry jam.

It's strawberry season here (not actually here in Tianjin, but somewhere in China),

and the berries are big and sweet--even though they don't look quite ripe. 

When I first bought some, I was surprised that they smelled right; that's always my first

clue as to whether the berries or peaches or pineapple are ripe.

And they've been delicious.

The girls had particularly missed all the freezer jam we'd had to leave behind,

so now there are several jars full in our freezer here. 

And it tastes great!

 Second:  Shopping at a brand-new IKEA store here in Tianjin.  

There was one in Beijing, but now we don't have to make the 2-hour drive

to get this or that.  

And one thing is for sure!  You don't eat at the IKEA restaurant for the view.

 Third:  Taking part in a walking tour of downtown Tianjin.

My friend Diane had visitors coming from the States and hired an American guide (who has lived here many years) to take them around, giving some of the history and interesting tidbits, and she invited me

to tag along.  Since I love history, and we will soon have visitors 

from the States, I wanted to see this!

We met at a Starbucks on the coldest morning of the past few weeks.  

We had bright, clear skies, but an ornery north wind that just cut through any coat. 

What a day to be out walking! 

And the first street we came to had all kinds of beautiful flowers and looked all

European--and the flowers were artificial.   

 We were in the "Concession" areas--those segments of town that were

populated by different foreign nations after China was forced to open up to trade in the  mid-1800's (and that was a nasty piece of business--forcing China to buy opium so that Britain wouldn't have a 

trade imbalance with China).  There was a British area of town (and they policed themselves--Chinese 

weren't allowed.)  There were also French, Belgium, German, Austrian, Japanese, and Italian areas.

Each area has it's own architecture and flavor.

We went into the Astor Hotel--oldest one in China.

 It's kind of fun to see where the rich and famous have been.

Herbert Hoover lived in Tianjin before he ran for president and made his  fortune

here.  The Rockefellers came and set up a bank.

 In fact, there were many foreign banks and they were beautiful old buildings.

The local government has named them historic buildings and is preserving them.

 The tour took us by very few old buildings--most have been torn down, many new buildings

made to look old, and then some very new ones.  The tall glass building

is a just-opened financial center.

A few things learned:

Eric Liddle, the Olympic runner portrayed in "Chariots of Fire" was born in Tianjin 

and returned here after the 1924 Olympics.  He taught at a mission school, married,

had daughters, and in 1937 when Japan invaded, Eric sent his family to Canada.  After Pearl Harbor,

the Japanese rounded up all foreigners and shipped them to a concentration camp.

Eric died there of a brain tumor.  

In 1976, the city of Tang Shan (about an hour north of here) was destroyed in an 8.9 earthquake.

300,000 people died there.  Here in Tianjin, many of the older buildings were damaged and

20,000 people died.  I hadn't know we were in an area with such

a recent quake!